Yuri (faction)
"Yuri" sometimes refers to the army under Yuri's command rather than the man himself. His army revealed itself during the Psychic Dominator Disaster after a hidden buildup behind the backs of Soviet forces during the Third World War. Background Yuri was the leader of a very versatile and efficient army. Yuri and his mad scientists conducted secret researches which resulted in great scientific advances, which Yuri exploited to the full. Yuri relied on mind-control, cloning, advanced magnetic weapons, and laser technology, as well as speed, maneuverability and flexibility to bring him victory on the battlefield. History ﻿Third World War The foundings of Yuri's army came from the Psychic Corps branch of the military of the USSR. Premier Romanov created the Psychic Corps shortly after the end of the Second World War according to Stalin's wishes but it was his advisor Yuri who really led the corp throughout the war. As the Psychic Corp, they were predominant in deploying Psychic Beacons in Washington, D.C. and St. Louis during the Soviet invasion of the United States, before the beacons were destroyed by the counterattacking Allies. As the war turned against the Soviets in favour of the Allies, Yuri and the Psychic Corp secretly began to break away from the Soviet Union and created their own army under the Allies' noses. Since the Allies were fully concentrating on beating back the Soviet forces, the secret activities of the Psychic Corp went unnoticed and were able to construct three Psychic dominators across the world - one on Alcatraz island, one in the Pyramids in Egypt, and the last in Antarctica. Only a small handful of Psychic Corp troopers were loyal to Romanov and subsequently attempted to defend Moscow from a surprise Allied invasion. Yuri and the majority of his unit retreated underground when the Soviet Union surrendered. Psychic Dominator Disaster A few days after the Soviets' surrender, Yuri openly broke away from the Soviet Union and announced his plans of world domination to US President Michael Dugan. A late US airstrike damaged the nuclear reactor powering the Psychic Dominator on Alcatraz island but the rest of the world succumbed to Yuri's dominance permanently. Yuri's Initiates searched for additional power plants in San Francisco but the Allies managed to capture them first to power Einstein's new time machine. The remnant forces travelled back in time to the first wave of the Soviet invasion of the US west coast. At the time Yuri had already began construction of the Psychic Dominator while the Soviet invasion was underway but the Allies not only repelled the Soviet forces in San Francisco but also destroyed the Psychic Dominator. The Psychic Corp then dropped all pretense and openly waged war against both the Allies and the Soviets, with their own army to combat both sides. Even then, Yuri's army continued to develop new weapons that would intimidate their enemies such as the Boomer and the Floating Disc. While they operated all over the world, the Allies managed to foil their plans to clone the world leaders, destroyed all the Psychic Dominators and arrested Yuri himself. With the new timeline replacing the old, Yuri's army was now defunct . The army Yuri is most notorious for his mind-control and brainwashing abilities. His secret army used many psychic units like the Yuri clone, the Mastermind and the Psychic Tower. Yuri commanders would use these to turn enemy units against each other. If powerful units were captured, then they would fight for the Yuri player to help defend his base. Captured units could also be sent into a grinder for a extra funding, supplementing the income from Slave Miners. Slave Miner refineries, unlike Allied or Soviet Ore Refineries, can freely move around the battlefield to mine any available ore. This can significantly save time in transporting ore back to the refinery, and eliminates the need to build extra refineries in far away mining locations. Using the Slave Miners alongside the Genetic Mutator and sending mind-controlled units into the Grinder can build a super-stable economy, and experienced players find that money is rarely (if ever) a problem. Infantry * Yuri's initiates were more powerful than either the Allied G.I. or the Soviet Conscript, being able to start fires with only their minds. They were very effective against infantry and structures, as well as vehicles when garrisoned in a building. * Yuri had his own [[Engineer (Red Alert 2)|'engineers']], identical to Allied and Soviet ones. * The Brute was Yuri's tank hunter. It is a huge mutant who can smash almost anything with its powerful fists. They are specially designed to take out enemy tanks, because tank weapons are almost useless against Brutes. Brutes are immune to dogs, because their veins are embedded too deeply in their bodies for a dog to tear out - not to mention, canines are simply to scared of them to attack. Terror Drones, however, are still a problem. They are also immune to Yuri's mind control, because their psychology differed so greatly from a normal human. * The Virus was Yuri's sniper unit. Much like the British sniper, these female soldiers could kill infantry from a great range. While the British snipers had greater attack range, the Virus was armed with deadly toxins that could quickly kill infantry units, causing them to explode in a cloud of toxic viral fumes. Even structures and tanks were slightly damaged when coming into contact with these clouds, while infantry would explode and die, creating a chain reaction. * Yuri deployed a slightly cheaper mind-control unit called the Yuri clone. It cost 800 credits and works the same way as the old Psi-Corps trooper. Although it maintains the original Yuri model, it has a different dialogue. * Yuri's last unit required a Battle Lab to train, and was Yuri himself, riding a hovering platform. A player may train only one Yuri Prime at a time in multiplayer (unless a Cloning vat is built). He could mind-control most base defenses, structures, infantry units, tanks, or ships. Yuri Prime's secondary weapon was much more useful than his clones, as his psychic shockwave did not harm friendly infantry. He also had a shorter cooldown time than his clones. Vehicles , the main battle tank of Yuri's forces.]] ]] * His main battle tank was the Lasher Light Tank. Although it was not as strong as heavier tanks, such as the Rhino Heavy Tank, it was very fast and matched the Grizzly Battle Tank. When stationed in a tank bunker, it was heavily armoured versus ground attacks and made a very effective base defense. * Chaos Drones could deploy to emit a special toxin which drove enemy infantry berserk, turning them temporarily against their comrades. It could remain in this state for an extended period or redeploy at will. * His Gattling tanks were very fast and could easily kill infantry and shoot down aircraft. Once their guns spun up fully, they would do heavy damage even to Kirov Airships and some light tanks. These two vehicles comprised the bulk of Yuri's armoured divisions and allow Yuri's forces to conduct very fast offensives. * They were supported by various high-tech units including the Magnetron, which was useful against vehicles. While they did not damage vehicles, they allowed Yuri commanders to lift and drag enemy vehicles toward Yuri clones or Masterminds. Magnetized vehicles could not attack, but were vulnerable to anti-air fire, while airborne, helping to destroy them. The Magnetron acted as the Yuri artillery and could be used to tear buildings apart from afar. * The Mastermind was Yuri's ultimate mind-control unit. It was the near equivalent of a mobile psychic tower, being able to control up to three units safely. However it could not stop at a safe number. Instead, they controlled anything they could target in the vicinity. This resulted in a "brainwave overload" that could severely damage and even destroy the Mastermind, requiring near-constant supervision by its commander, lest it be lost. Aircraft , the only air unit of Yuri.]] * Yuri did not use conventional aircraft like the Allied Harrier and the Soviet MiG. He possessed the Floating Disc, a flying saucer that could destroy infantry and vehicles with its powerful laser. Yuri's Floating Disc had a secondary ability, the siphon, such that when ordered to attack a power plant, it could drain its power. Used against an enemy Refinery, it could steal credits, giving them to Yuri, until there were none left or the Disc was shot down. If the Floating Disc was ordered to attack a base defense, it would instead power it down, with the exception of the Allied pillboxes, Gap Generator, Grand Cannon; Soviet battle bunker, sentry gun; and Yuri tank bunker. These exceptions and all factions' superweapons would be fired upon like regular structures. Floating Discs may continue to fire their lasers when syphoning, so are far from defenseless. Navy * Yuri had his own [[Amphibious transport (Red Alert 2)|'amphibious transports']], identical to Soviet ones in armour and similar to Allied ones in appearance. * The Boomer Submarine was Yuri's only combatant naval unit. It was a stronger version of the Soviet Typhoon attack submarine, able to fire two torpedoes at once, it could also launched ballistic missiles on land targets like the Soviet Dreadnought. Superweapons * The Genetic mutator turned any infantry, either friendly, hostile, or neutral into loyal Brutes. (Animals - such as dogs, squid, and dolphins - cannot be mutated, they simply die.) * The Psychic dominator was Yuri's ultimate weapon, capable of permanently mind-controlling any units within a 3x3 area. It would unleash raw psychic energies capable of damaging or destroying structures. Units garrisoned inside a structure would be mind-controlled, if the power was used on the building. Using the Psychic Dominator in combination with the Genetic Mutator could turn many enemy units against their allies even in the heart of an enemy base, causing immense chaos. Faction Breakdown Yuri's faction blends subversion and influence gameplay with solid base defenses and some interesting and unique mechanics, but pays the price for these with low efficiency. While outwardly, the faction may seem overpowered, with mind control units being able to functionally take units out of the fight, Yuri's faction is cursed with poor endurance overall, an over-reliance on combined-arms approaches, and a glaring vulnerability to units specifically designed to counter their own. Both the Allies and Soviets have a profusion of units flat-out immune to Mind Control, including robotic units and aircraft, which can turn the tables. Throw in the fact that both the Allies and Soviets get access to cheap floodable units and that both factions are good at out-muscling Yuri's forces, and you have Yuri being a relatively middling faction in terms of strength - extremely powerful if used right, but terrifyingly vulnerable if the tables are turned. Strengths * Strong Anti-Air. Gattling Turrets aren't as long-ranged as Patriots, or do bonus damage at close range like Flak guns, but they can do much more concentrated damage. Throw in Gattling Tanks and the spin-up bonus and they're some of the toughest anti-air around, with good anti-infantry punch for good measure, though they have poor range. * Slave Miners can reposition as needed when ore runs out. * Awesome utility units. When correctly used, units like the Magnetron, Floating Disc, and Mastermind (Yuri's Revenge) offer fantastic tactical advantages, and while they are hard to use, the results can be fantastic and unexpected (like using a Magnetron to ferry allied units across a canyon or locking down a power plant prior to an attack). * Initiates are hilariously strong inside garrisons. * Extremely efficient if used properly; send captured units to the Grinder for credits or captured infantry to the Bio Reactor for free power. Weaknesses * Ridiculously micromanagement-heavy. Yuri play at high-levels takes a lot of proper unit control and a good grasp of unit tactics. * Expensive. Many of Yuri's units cost more (often much more) than comparable units for other factions. This is especially true for Yuri's strongest units, the Boomer Submarine and the Floating Disc, which are either just as expensive (or more expensive) than their counterparts and are often much more vulnerable to being overrun as a result. Yuri players tradiitonally fill the number gap with Mind Control, but.... * ....Yuri is terrible in attrition fights. A Yuri player who doesn't have Mind Control to fall back upon (because say, the enemy specifically moves to counter it) becomes a much weaker opponent and while his forces are more than capable if used on their own, they have serious problems beating Allied or Soviet units one-on-one. Air units, Robotic units, and several other units (Brutes, Yuri Clones, etc) are all immune to mind control and attempting to use them in the wrong situation is wasting resources. * Yuri has no ability to repair units except for captured units (such as an Engineer-loaded IFV) or tech buildings. This makes Yuri players incredibly vulnerable to Terror Drones and means their units tend to flag until they get veterancy and can self-repair. * Extremely vulnerable to building disruption. A fully-loaded Yuri Bio Reactor provides 1300 power, but is no tougher than a standard power plant and costs considerably more. Slave Miners cannot self-repair, necessitating you use an Engineer to fix one, making their economy surprisingly vulnerable to interdiction. Yuri players need to constantly be on the lookout for spies, airstrikes, and infiltrators, lest they find themselves without power or unable to finance their war efforts at the wrong time. Category:Red Alert universe factions Category:Red Alert 2 Factions Category:Third factions